


Little La Muerte

by Whiteflower122



Category: Book of Life (2014)
Genre: F/M, Gravepainters, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 11:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3486557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whiteflower122/pseuds/Whiteflower122
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Xibalba and La Muerte meet a witch named Serafina, who casts a spell on La Muerte and it ends up having some...interesting results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little La Muerte

Little La Muerte (A Xibalba and La Muerte Story)

* * *

"Hmm, it's a nice night isn't it?"

Xibalba opened his eyes and looked down at his wife. They were currently by the large Yule tree just outside the town of San Angel. Xibalba was leaning back against it while La Muerte was sitting in his lap with her head resting on his chest. His wings were draping over them like a blanket and his crown and her sombrero were laying on the ground next to them. He had kind of dozed off a bit until her question woke him up.

"Yes, it is." The tar covered god looked up at the sky. It really was a nice night. There were no clouds covering up the moon and stars and the air was warm, but had a pleasant cool breeze blowing through every now and then.

He glanced down at La Muerte, who was tracing the little details on his armor with a thoughtful expression on her face. "What are you thinking about, _mi amor_?" he asked when curiosity got the better of him.

The sugar skull goddess hummed and snuggled closer to him. "I was just thinking how much I missed this."

He tilted his head, slightly puzzled. "Miss what?"

"This...being close to you again." she responded softly. "I may have been angry when I banished you, Xibalba, but...there were so many times, I missed having you by my side."

Xibalba felt his heart twist in his chest. He knew exactly how she felt since he had felt the same way for centuries. He took a hold of one of her hands. "I know how you feel, _mi amor_. But we have all eternity to make up for lost time." He brought her hand up to his mouth and pressed a kiss onto her knuckles.

La Muerte smiled at his words and the gesture. "I know."

She moved her head up my just as he lowered his head down to meet her halfway. Their lips met softly and sweetly and filled them both with a warmth that could outmatch the sun. When they separated, La Muerte nuzzled her face into his neck while Xibalba buried his face into her hair.

" _Te amo, mi vida._ " the Queen whispered.

The King smirked against her dark tresses. " _Y te amo, mi corazón."_

Xibalba would have tried to fall back to sleep in the moment, but just then something caught his attention. La Muerte felt her husband sit up a bit straighter and lifted her head up to look at him. "What's wrong?"

"Look over there."

She followed his line of sight and immediately noticed what he was looking at. There in the distance a plume of purple smoke could be seen drifting into the air.

"What is that?"

"I'm not sure."

"Shall we go investigate?"

He shrugged. "I don't see why not."

They stood back up and placed their headdresses back in their rightful places before teleporting towards the source of this new interest. They reappeared and found a crowd of people were standing in a circle around a heavily decorated wagon. Standing in the middle of the circle was a young dark-skinned woman with a purple bandanna on top of her waist length, black hair that was held back in a tight braid. She wore a white, off the shoulder blouse with a long purple skirt and several gold bracelets on her wrists and ankles.

"Greetings, everyone!" She said, her voice was deep and rich like smoky velvet. "I am Madam Serafina and come to your humble little town to show you power and mystery that is magic!"

Serafina made a cloak appear seemingly out of nowhere and twirled around, wrapping it around her. The people gasped as the cloak fell to the ground and revealed the woman had disappeared. A cloud of red smoke appeared on the roof of the wagon and when it evaporated, Serafina showed up, throwing her arms into the air for a dramatic flourish.

The crowd let out awed gasps and clapped enthusiastically. Serafina curtsied. "Thank you, thank you, you'll all so kind. And now for my next trick..."

From there Serafina performed all sort of little tricks. She made one woman's handkerchief vanish only for it to be found in the pocket of another man, who swore he didn't have anything in his pocket before. She picked a young girl in the front and much to everyone's shock and the girl's delight, Serafina waved her hands together and caused the child to start floating in the air. The girl's mother fainted and a few people that where skeptical what was happening was real, came up to see if there were any wires that were holding the girl up. But there was none to be found.

La Muerte smiled. "She's quite good isn't she?"

Xibalba scoffed. "Oh please, what she's doing is a mockery compared to what real magic is."

"Still," she drawled as she continued to watch the show with interest. "She certainly knows how to put on a show."

The god only grunted in response.

Serafina continued her performance and when it finally came to an end, the crowd clapped once more and caused the woman to bow. "Thank you, you've been a most wonderful audience. She made a hat magically appear and held it out in front of her as she circled around the crowd. Most of the people threw money into it.

The townsfolk began to leave the area until it came down to Serafina and the two gods of the dead.  "So did you two enjoy my show?" the woman asked when she was certain no one was around.

La Muerte and Xibalba glanced at each other. The winged deity leaned in close to his wife, whispering, "Is she talking to us?"

Serafina lifted her head up and looked straight _at_ them. "Of course I am."

The immortals' eyes widened. "You can see us?" The sugar skull woman asked.

Serafina laughed. "Yes, I can. You may be invisible to everyone else here, but not to me. For you see I am a witch and I tend to see things that other people can't see. But before we go any father, allow me to introduce myself." She gave a small bow of her head. "I am Serafina. It's a pleasure to meet you, La Muerte and Xibalba."

"You know who we are?" Xibalba eyed the mortal with mild interest.

"Of course. You hasn't heard of the beautiful and kind, La Muerte and the fearsome and powerful, Xibalba?"

"Spare us your flattery, human. What do you want?"

"Me?" Serafina placed a hand on her chest. "I simply wanted to know whether or not you enjoyed my show. So tell me...did you?"

The goddess gave the other woman a smile. "I actually found your show very entertaining. You're quite skilled performer."

Serafina grinned, looking rather pleased with the complement and bowed her head. " _Gracias,_ my Lady." She turned to look at Xibalba. "And what did you think, my Lord?"

The man in question scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Hmph, I've seen better."

His wife whipped her head around to give him a stern look. "Xibalba!"

"No,no,no it's alright, my Lady." Serafina reassures. "He's entitled to his own opinion. But do tell me, my Lord, what is it about my show you didn't like?"

"If you want my honest answer than I would have to say all of it." Came his blunt response. "You so called magic is nothing more than a bunch of cheap, parlor tricks."

Serafina's smile strangely enough didn't fade at his biting remark. "Cheap, parlor tricks, you say?" Her gray-blue eyes, rimmed with a black khol, slid over to look at La Muerte and the grin on her rouge painted lips gained a more mischievous looking slant. "How's this for a parlor trick?"

Without any warning, the purple garbed woman threw her arm out and yellow dust shot out of her palm and showered the goddess from head to toe. Xibalba moved to strike Serafina, but she laughed and quickly conjured up another cloud of purple smoke, much bigger than the one she made in her show and it some spread out all over the area. Xibalba flapped his wings hard, creating a gust of wind that cleared the fog, but it was too late, Serafina and her wagon where both gone.

The god let out a low growl before turning to his wife. "Are you alright, my dear?"

"I'm fine, Xibalba," La Muerte was trying to brush off the yellow particles on her dress.

"Are you sure? You don't feel strange or different in any way?"

The sugar skull deity paused. "...No, I feel fine." she repeated as she took of her hat so she could shake her hair out.

"That blasted woman!" he snarled. "The next time I see her, I swear I'll-!"

"Balby," La Muerte placed a comforting hand on his boney arm. "I'm fine. There's no need to get so upset. Let's just go home...please?"

Although he wasn't completely pacified, he still nodded his head. "Very well, my dear."

They took each other by the hand and transported back to the Land of the Remembered.

"Well, that certainly turned out to be an interesting evening." the goddess commented.

"Hmph...that's one way of putting it." Xibalba said with a huff.

La Muerte ran her thumb over his gloved knuckles. "When do you need to head back?"

"Soon," he responded, sighing slightly. "while my land my not be an endless fiesta like yours, my sweet, I still have duties to attend to."

"I know." She reached up with her other hand to rest on his cheekbone and drew him into a kiss. After several long moments, she pulled away, smiling. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"I count the minutes until we see each other again." Xibalba said dreamingly as his mind was still in a daze from the kiss.

La Muerte laughed. "Balby, you old, flatter you." She playfully pushed his face away and turned to head down to the main hall just as Xibalba teleported back to the Land of the Forgotten.

* * *

La Muerte put a hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn. It was strange but she noticed that she was feeling incredibly tried for some reason. As she felt another yawn coming on, she decided to make a decision. "If you would all please excuse me," she stood up from her throne. "I think I'm going to retire for the night. _Buenas noches._ "

She heard her subjects say their own goodnights to her as she glided down the hall to head to her room. Upon entering and closing the door behind her, La Muerte began to change out of her clothes and into her nightgown. She waved her hands and caused the candles lighting her room to go out before moving towards the bed. She pulled back the covers, laid down and pulled the sheets back up. Turning onto her side, her eyes slipped shut and she immediately feel asleep.

* * *

As the clock struck midnight, a yellow glow outlined La Muerte's body before it faded away...

* * *

Elisa walked down the hall until she came to a halt in front of the Queen's chambers. She knocked on the door. "My Lady, are you awake?"

When there was no response, Elisa frowned. ' _That's strange._ _She's usually up by now_.'

Elisa griped the door handle, saying, "My Lady I'm coming in." before opening the door and entering the room. She glanced around, searching for any signs of the goddess. "La Muerte?"

Just then she noticed a decent size lump on the bed. Eliza moved closer towards it and after a few seconds of hesitation, she grabbed the sheets that were covering the lump from view and pulled them back...

* * *

Xibalba appeared right outside of La Muerte's castle. After pushing the doors open and letting himself inside, he glided down the halls, heading towards the throne room.

But just as he was about to the main room where he had hoped to greet his wife, he heard various amount of voices, talking to each other.

"This is terrible!"

"What are we going to tell everyone!?"

"Forget that! What are we going to tell Lord Xibalba?"

"He's going to be furious when he sees this!"

Xibalba decided it was time to make himself known. "When I see what?"

Everyone in the room jumped and spun around to face the dark god. In the front of the group was the captain who greeted and helped the new souls find their families. "Xibalba! W-What are you doing here?"

"Miguel," the god greeted dryly. "I'm looking for La Muerte. Where is she?"

No one responded and they all exchanged nervous glances between each other. Xibalba opened his mouth to ask again, only to close it when he caught movement coming from underneath the long banquet table. "What was that?" He moved closer to see what it was, but some of the skeletal folks panicked and quickly moved into his path to prevent him from coming any closer.

He glared. "What is going on here?"

Miguel fiddled with his boney fingers. "Uh...about that. We have a small problem."

Xibabla looked back at the captain. "What sort of problem?"

"It's about your wife."

HIs tall, dark frame grew tense upon hearing this. "What wrong? Is she okay?"

"Um...she's...ugh-"

"Spit it out!"

Rather then saying anything, Miguel and the others simply lifted the tablecloth up and when they did, something came out from under the table...or rather it was someone.

The person that came forward was a young girl. She had white sugar skin that was decorated with yellow swirls and other red designs, long black hair tied back in a high ponytail and large golden eyes. She was wearing white, blouse with marigolds along the neckline, a long, crimson skirt with gold lines trailing towards the bottom and a small tiara that had red candles on it on the top of her head.

Xibalba's face became completely blank, showing no emotion whatsoever. He didn't move. He didn't even blink. The only sign that he hadn't become a statue in that moment was the way his snowy eyebrows where slowly climbing towards his forehead. "Miguel?"

The Captain grew increasingly nervous at the eerie calmness in the god's voice. "Y-Yes?"

"Is that who that who I think it is?"

" _Si_ , my Lord, it is."

Silence descend upon the room, but it was broken when the girl smiled and reached out towards the winged deity. "Balby!"

Xibalba's eye twitched.

The Remembered souls slowly tried to make their way towards the door in hope that they could sneak out before the preverbal bomb dropped.

But they weren't that lucky.

In a spark of neon, green magic, the door slammed shut on it own. Everyone flinched and turned to see Xibalba sneering at them.

"No one is leaving this room until I get some answers." He said through gritted teeth. Once the group hesitantly came closer to him again, he asked, "How did this happen?"

Glances where exchanged before Miguel decided to answer. "W-We don't know."

Xibalba's gloved hand slammed down on the table causing dishware to rattle. His face contorted into a look of absolute rage; teeth sharping into fangs, wings spreading out and candles on this crown and shoulders flaring brightly. "What do you mean you don't know?!" he practically roared.

Despite the fact he was trembling like a leaf, Miguel managed to get out, " M-My Lord, please, I swear, we don't know how this happened."

Xibalba sucked in a sharp breath, trying to reel in some of his anger. "Well, someone has to know something. Who was the first to find her like this?"

From her spot towards the back of the group, Elisa squirmed in place. "Uhm...that would be me, my Lord." She spoke up, raising her hand slightly.

She cringed as Xibalba turned to look at her and then jumped as he suddenly appeared right in front of her, bending at the waist so he was more eye level with her.

"Don't move." He commanded, the red skulls in her eyes rotating forward.

Elisa froze under his gaze and she felt the strangest sensation at the god's mind probing powers. In his mind's eye, Xibalba saw Elisa entering La Muerte's room and pulling back the covers of the bed to find a smaller and younger version of her queen laying there.

Xibalba blinked and the connection broke. He stood back up to his full height, pupils shifting back to their sides. "This doesn't make any sense." he said to himself before he addressed the group again. "Did anyone notice anything strange with her last night?"

"Well," one man piped up. "She said she was feeling tried the other day."

The god's brows drew together. "Tried?"

"Yes," an elderly woman added. "she was feeling so tried, she even retired to her room earlier then usual."

Xibalba frowned. This still wasn't making any sense. His wife was perfectly fine when he left. So how could she go from fine to turning into a child in just a few hours? He kept trying to go through it in his head over and over again, but couldn't come up with an answer. ' _Ugh_ ,' he pressed his fingers to his temples to ward off the oncoming headache. All this thinking was beginning to hurt his head.

Seeing the dark lord's frustration, Miguel came forward."Uhm...my Lord?"

"What is it, Miguel?"

"If you don't mind me asking. Did anything perhaps happen to La Muerte while you two were out last night?"

"Nothing happened last night expect..." Realization hit Xibalba and it hit him hard. " _Nueve infiernos! Que bruja infernal!_ "

"M-My Lord?"

"Stay here and watch her!" Xibalba ordered. "I'll be right back."

With that he vanished in a swirl of black feathers and smoke.

* * *

Xibalba knocked on the door of the wagon with one of the heads of his snake staff. "Witch! Come out here this instant!"

A few seconds passed before the door opened and Serafina stepped out. "Ah, Xibalba. How can I help you, my Lord?"

"Don't play innocent with me!" he snarled, pointing a long finger at her. "What have you done to my wife?! She's been turned into a child!"

"Oh...that." She didn't even look at him as she started to casually play with one of the bracelets on her arms. "You see, Xibalba, I did that to teach you a lesson."

"And what sort of lesson would that be?!"

Her eyes flickered back up to him and narrowed slightly. "That I don't appreciate someone insulting my abilities. I would have used the spell on you, but I thought it would be more interesting to use it on someone you care about." The woman pushed back a bit of her hair that had fallen out of her braid. "To be honest I wasn't even sure if my magic would work or not. I've never used it on a god before, but judging by your reaction I say it must have turned out pretty well." Serafina had the audacity to smirk at him. " My magic don't seem to be much of a parlor trick now, doesn't it?"

Never, since he had lost the wager, had Xibalba felt more tempted to end a mortal's life then right there and now.

"Oh, calm down. The spell isn't permanent."

Her words caused Xibalba to blink away the red haze that had begun to cloud his vision. "It's not?"

"No, it's not. If your wife had been a human then my spell would have probably lasted for quite a while. But for someone as powerful as a god, I would say it would last..." Serafina paused, thinking it over. "A day, maybe two at best."

Well, that was a relief to hear, but Xibalba still wasn't happy about it. He opened his mouth to say something, but Serafina cut him off.

"Now if I were you I would stop wasting your time with me and focus more on the issues at hand. Like who's going to look at the Land of the Remembered since your wife is in no condition to do so."

 _'Maldita sea_!' He hated to admit it, but she was right. La Muerte couldn't possible take care of her realm while she was a child. He needed to head back there now and try to straighten things out. "This isn't over. You will pay for what you have done one way or another."

Serafina waved off his warning like it was nothing. "Save your threats for someone who will actually take them seriously."

Xibalba growled and without another word, transported back to the Land of the Remembered.

The moment he reappeared back in the main hall, the skeleton folks who had been entertaining La Muerte snapped back to attention. Miguel spoke up for the group once more. "My Lord, did you find anything out?"

"Thankfully, I did."

"And...?"

The Forgotten king's jaw quirked angrily to the side. "The spell isn't permanent, but it may take at least a day to wear off."

"So what should we do until then?"

"Until it wears off, I'll take La Muerte's place as ruler." At the horrified looks that crossed the people's faces, he rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't look so terrified, I'm not going to do anything drastic."

"But what about La Muerte?" Elisa asked this time.

"She'll stay with me so I can keep an eye on her. Now if there aren't any more questions, I suggest all of you get back to work."

"But my Lord-"

Xibalba shot everyone a glare. "I'm sorry when I said get back to work, I meant get back to work _now_."

No one dared to protest in fear of provoking the god's wrath. Everyone quickly scrambled out of the room to head back to their posts. Xibalba watched them leave before turning his attention to La Muerte.

The sugar skull girl, who had remained oblivious to the conversation around her looked up at him before she smiled and waved.

He sighed, feeling another headache approaching. _'This is going to be a very long day._ '

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Notes: So I've been working on this story for quite a while and I finally managed to find time to finish it up. And no I'm not just going to end it the way I did. This story is going to have another chapter since I felt like this was getting really long. So just be patient and I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can.


End file.
